RATING PROBLEM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVIII, Issue 240, 7 September 1928, Page 2

RATING PROBLEM.

FABM LANDS IN BOROUGHS.

CLASSIFICATION PRINCIPLE-

The report was submitted to the House of Hepi’esentatives last night of the commission which recently sat at Otaki, Feilding and Wellington to investigate the question of the rating of farm lands in boroughs. The Minister announced that legislation on the subject will be brought before Parliament during this, session.

Two commissions inquired into the question, one having particular reference to the borough of Otaki and the other being of more general application. The personnel of both commissions was the game. In tho main, the report is confined to particular difficulties which have arisen in the borough of Otaki, and which are not of universal application. The proposals contained in this report are expected to place matters in Otaki on a much more satisfactory basis Ilian they have been for some .time past, and legislation to this end is to be brought before The House at a later stage in tho session.. The plain immediate factor concerning the Otaki report is that it introduces the principle of classification of borough lands for rating purposes and the levying of rates on a differential basis. This is recommended for Otaki. •In addition, the recommendation is illustrated by a carefullv-prepnred and complete scheme of classification of the borough, which the commission deemed it necessary to prepare. The details of this scheme are contained in a plan from which nny ratepayer in the borough will be ablo to see in which class his lands have been placed.

PROPOSED PROCEDURE,

DIVISION IN OTAKI. Dealing particularly with the principle of classification, the borough has been divided into three classes, as follow:

Class A: Building land —i.e., land suitable for building purposes and having a frontage to a road or street. Class B : Potential building land — i.e., and having a potential building value, and other than the land included in Class A. Class C: Farm land —i.e., land used for farm purposes and not suitable for building purposes. Provision is made lor tho lodging and hearing of objections. Tlie report recommends the proportions in which borough rates shall be levied in the different classes as follow : Class A: 100-255, Class B : 85-255. Class C: 70-255. That is to say, for every.£loo levied on land in Class A, £BS shall be levied on land of equal unimproved value in Class B, and £7O on. land of equal unimproved value in Class C. ‘ Tlie commission mado.it quite clear that on account of . the peculiar difficulties prevailing in Otaki its report is not'a panacea for the res/t of tho Dominion, and that it could not recommend universal classification without first having an opportunity of making further inquiries. INQUIRY AT FEILDING. As a result arrangements wero made for the holding of a further inquiry into tho broad issue of classification of borough lands for rating purposes, and the levying of differential rates by borough councils. This inquiry was held mainly in the borough of Feilding, and tho commission also sat for some time in Wellington. Much evidence of an important nature from gentlemen who nave from various angles given considerable thought to the question of rating was tendered to the commission, and after careful inquiry it has furnished a report which broadly recommends the adoption of the principle of classification in those boroughs which have farm lands in them. It is tho intention of the Government to bring down legislation on tho subject. Thq commission in recommending the universal principle of classification lias adopted the same three classes as in Otaki, namely: Class A.-—Building land, i.e., land suitable for building purposes and hav-

ing a frontage to a road or street. Class B.—Potential building land, i.e.,' land having a potential building value and other than the land included in Class A.

Class C. —Farm lands, i.e., land used for farm purposes and not suitable for building purposes.

The commission has stressed the fact that beforo classification is applied carefully inquiry in tho case of each particular borough concerned should be made, and it has recommended a procedure to this end. Generally the scheme of the report for adopting classification is as follows:

(1) Petition for classification from anv farmer in a borough. (2) Inquiry to establish a prima facie case.

(3) Appointment of classifiers with the powers of a commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, to hold inquiry and classify into the classes mentioned. (This involves also fixing tlic proportion of rates to bo paid by lands in each class). (4) Facilities for deposit and inspection of classification list.

(5) Provision for objection by aggrieved persons or by the borough council concerned!

(6) Provision for tho classifiers to hear objections, if any, and to amend tho classification list, if thought necsesary. After this, the classification list is signed by tlio classifiers and becomes operative on the following April 1. (7) A further provision is made fSV amending the classification list, but in order to provide for somo stability in tlio incidence of rating, it is recommended that a reclassification should not take place within a period of five years. The Minister of Lands (Hon. A. D. McLeod) announced last night that the Government later in the session proposed to introduce legislation along the lines of the recommendations of the commission. “I would like to make it clear,” he said, “that tho adoption of the report will not mean the automatic classifying of .all boroughs. It will bo quite apparent without my stating any particular cases that there are some boroughs which do not contain farm lands and in which classification would not be practicable. BURDENS ON FARMERS. “The investigations into tho questions covered by the report have been conducted in a very thorough and impartial manner, and the evidence submitted makes it abundantly clear that under existing conditions farmers in boroughs aro not receiving a fair return for the amount paid by them by way of rates. In fact, having regard to the use they make of their lands and tho impossibility of taking advantage of borough services, they aro paying more bv way of rates than is justified. Such matters as water supply, sewerage, street lighting and others ,ajre very necessary services to the thickly jioulatcd portions of boroughs; but these services aro quite useless to tho majority of the farming community, yet they are often called upon to pay a higher proportion of the rates which finance these services than the people who are receiving them. Ido not need to enter into details as to the inequity of this position as it is made abundantly clear in the commission’s report. “I trust that when legislation on the subject is brought down at a later stago in the session, members will facilitate the placing of this legislation on the Statute Book.”